U.S., Iraqi Forces Tackle Hostage Stand-Off

Reuters ^ | 2005 Apr 16 | Luke Baker

[Wiz]

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. and Iraqi forces are trying to secure the release of a group of up to 60 Shi'ite Muslims being held hostage in a town south of Baghdad, where rising sectarian tensions threaten to provoke armed conflict.

Shi'ite officials in Baghdad said they believed as many as 60 hostages were being held in Madaen, a town 25 miles southeast of the capital, after being seized by Sunni gunmen late on Friday. The gunmen have threatened to kill the hostages unless Shi'ites leave the town, the Shi'ite officials said.

But a senior police source in Baghdad said the number of hostages may be far fewer and said the abductions were the latest in a series of tit-for-tat kidnappings caused by growing antagonism between Sunnis and Shi'ites in the town.

"For weeks there have been kidnappings by one group and then the other. Last night some gunmen took some Shi'ites hostage and they are still being held," the police official said, adding that efforts were under way to try to secure their release.

He said gunmen had also visited the homes of several Shi'ite families in Madaen during the night and told them to leave town. Residents in Madaen told a Reuters cameraman some people had left, driving south toward the city of Kut.

[Old Sarge]

Developing situation. We're watching it.

Some of the Iraqi uniforms are standing with us - they're tired of getting shoved around by the Hadjis, and it shows.

[river rat]

It's beginning to look like the Sunni Islamists need to reach near extinction levels - before they become the "religion of peace"...

Saudi Arabia - home and birth whore of the violent Wahabbi Sunni cult -- is the enemy...

A nuclear heat wave, centered on Saudi Arabia, may provide the sterilization required to address the root problem..

Semper Fi